Scourge Knights
The Scourge Knights are an active Chaos Warband under the leadership of Sa'vael Ra, formerly the Chief Librarian of the Nether Host Chapter (Later re-organised into the Phantoms Chapter). This Warband are dedicated to the Chaos God of Change and Sorcery, Tzeentch. The Warband is particularly noteworthy for their ability to infiltrate Imperial Controlled worlds and quietly seduce powerful officials to the temptations of the Lord of Change, as well as their bitter hatred for the Phantoms Chapter after their defeat at the Battle of Sylvana. The Warband has since taken up residence on the planet of Seramar, a bastion of legions of Chaos servants. It is rumoured that the planet's capital is home to a Palace built by the Dark Mechanicus, several hundred feet into the air and almost completely silver, guarded by a Lord of Change. However these claims are merely rumours, as nobody who has visited the world has survived or retained their previous loyalty. The Warband has been known to have kidnapped several members of the TechUnion Traders of Kambolas, for unknown purposes as of yet. History Ever since the civil war within the Nether Host, the Scourge Knights have been hell-bent on exacting vengeance for their humiliating defeat at Kambolas. Former Sergeant Felemoore has since been made the Champion of the Warband, being a fully converted Chaos Terminator Champion, and is often found escorting Sa'vael himself should it be required of him. Their main stronghold is located on the planet of Seramar, an area along the border of the Eye of Terror, making it a safe haven to discourage Imperial attacks on them. From their bastion, the Scourge Knights have been known to invade nearby systems in secret, first by sending a select few mortal individuals to infiltrate the planet's society and slowly spread their influence in secret. These infiltrations can range from controlling mere under city gangs to those in the Imperial Governor's Entourage, allowing the cultists access to the planet's defences to sabotage or control them. The second phase often relies on deploying several traitor marines lead by a single Sorcerer, accompanied by many corrupt regiments of Imperial Guard, Mercenaries, Pirates and so on. The prior infiltration minimises the planet's defences and increases the chances of success for the Warband. Survivors are often gifted a choice upon capture - Accept the ways of the Chaos God Tzeentch, or have their souls relieved. This, seemingly to be an act of mercy, is actually a plot to strengthen the Knights' ranks for further conquest as they drive towards Sylvana, home to the Phantoms Chapter. Expedition to the Gallican Sector Following a lead on a source of Sorcerous knowledge chronicled by Galkran Vornost several millennia ago, Sa'vael sent his Champion, Felemoore, to the sector - Only to discover the quarantine around the planet. With this knowledge, Felemoore was ordered to try and convince the local Rimwalkers, a band of morally vague smugglers, to smuggle the Terminator and his entourage onto the planet with the promise of a more secure route for their cargo. The Terminator escort ordered the smugglers to remain at their call for when they require evacuation from the sector. The group travelled across the surface of the planet for several hours, before coming upon a single Aspiring Champion of chaos, in an unfamiliar violet and green armour. This Champion introduced himself as being Sorvek the Poisonous of the Sons of the Perverter. After demanding knowledge on the location of the Chronicles of the Perverter, Sorvek, much to Felemoore's surprise, willingly lead the Terminators to the tome - In exchange for safe passage off the planet and an audience with Sa'vael himself. With reluctance, Felemoore agreed yet remained sceptical about Sorvek's intentions. After having lead Felemoore and his Terminators to the tome - The party returned to the Rimwalkers who swiftly transported them back to the Chaos Battle Barge ''Melody of Fate, ''where Sa'vael allowed the audience - To his confusion, surprise and intrigue Sorvek wanted to remain with the Scourge Knights. Sa'vael agreed to this, however only for the sake of discovering Sorvek's true intentions, and possibly as a reference to his newly acquired tome, which was safeguarded by an aspiring sorcerer named Malakan. Sorvek's Machinations Sa'vael's suspicions would soon prove to be valid, as Sorvek, being of the Sons of the Perverter, was corrupt even by Chaos standards. Slowly over time, the Champion slowly spread his influence among a few of the weaker willed of Sa'vael's immense forces. Several Knights fell under the sway of Sorvek, including Malakan whom safeguarded the tome recovered by Felemoore. Sorvek was acting as a vessel with which to spread the influence and corruption of Galkran Vornost, a number of marines on the ''Melody of Fate ''herself were corrupted, being dangerously close to Sa'vael himself, this would have proved disastrous for the servants of Tzeentch. Yet it was not to be - Sa'vael's careful studying of the tome over time since its recovery afforded great insight into the corruption of Vornost - And saw the signs in Sorvek immediately. Yet his curiosity to understand grew, and simply allowed it to fester for a time. As time passed, a small number of marines fell to the corruption, in addition to several hundred of the Lost and the Damned under the Knights' command. Eventually Sorvek was summoned to Sa'vael's chambers within their stronghold on Seramar - where Felemoore and the Sorcerer-Lord himself awaited. Sa'vael remind silent during the encounter. Felemoore informed Sorvek they were aware of this machinations, and challenged him to a one on one duel. Sorvek agreed. The spar was said to have lasted three days and three nights, in which the Terminator Champion's massive power claw did battle with the Aspiring Champion's Daemon sword. The fight came to an end when Sorvek faulted, and left his arm exposed - The massive Terminator's hand clamping down on it to restrain the smaller marine, leaving him vulnerable to Felemoore's storm bolter to obliterate the head of the traitor, dropping the corpse to the floor. Shortly after the duel, Felemoore retrieved the discarded Daemon sword to replace the Power Claw that had been damaged in the skirmish. It was not finished yet though - Sa'vael had his forces scour their ranks for any surviving traitors and subjected each of them to horrendous fates, being experimented in by Sa'vael's techs, or banished to the warp for eternity. All but one were captured or killed - Malakan had left before the duel had taken place, seeking out any other Sons that may be alive. The Pernicum Campaign One of the Knights' more prominent Sorcerer-Lords, named Theldrasir, reported he had discovered a lead on an artefact of Tzeentch, said to be blessed by the God himself. Theldrasir claimed that the artefact was a single gauntlet that had the power to control the magnetic field generated by most humanoids - The gauntlet would empower the electrical field generated by neural currents (for example) and then discharge the power through both the victim and anyone in a five metre radius. The result discharging would effectively 'cook' those affected. Sa'vael was intrigued by this, and approved Theldrasir's request to take a mission to retrieve the Gauntlet from the Pernicum sector. Theldrasir took a significant force with him - Including the ''Melody of Fate ''to the system. Prior to the expedition, Theldrasir adhered to the Knights' usual tactics, and sent several mortal servants ahead of the main fleet several years prior to slowly spread the influence of Tzeentch over the planet. After several years of infiltration, the sector's Government were soon under the full control of the Knights' cult - This resulted directly in the Scourge Knight loyalists gaining full control over the system's military forces (notably the PDFs of each planet) and Naval vessels, effectively commandeering a small army with little need for force. The Cult Leader -and now unofficial Governor of the sector-, Lysander Verethar, contacted Theldrasir and informed him that the planetary defences and navy were under their control, and it was safe for the Chaos Lord to bring his forces to the sector. Theldrasir brought his army to the sector hastily, placing the ''Melody of Fate ''as the flag ship of the commandeered defence fleet. Lysander informed Theldrasir that it seems a distress call was somehow sent to any nearby Imperial forces - A piece of information which resulted in the Governor being sent to the ''Melody of Fate ''to be experimented on for failure. To respond to this, Theldrasir had his ships position themselves to intercept the most likely point in which the Imperial forces would likely arrive, assuming they had received the distress signal. Theldrasir's instincts were correct, and the Thorn Heralds left the warp, already in bad condition from attacks by Warp entities, only to be met with the Knights' vessels, obliterating a third of their fleet before they could muster a meaningful counter-attack. What the Chaos Lord did not anticipate, was that the Thorn Heralds Chapter Master -Remigio Cabral- ordered his vessel into direct contact with the ''Melody of Fate ''to allow the rest of the fleet to escape the Knights' clutches. Several Chaos Marines and other traitors boarded the Herald's flagship. Yet Cabral was not Chapter Master for nothing - And at least two thirds of those that boarded the ship were killed before they were able to capture the Astartes leader and his Honour Guard, with the intent to twist him into a powerful servant of Tzeentch and Sa'vael. Several of Theldrasir's forces pursued the survivors to Pernicum Alpha. The latter planet had no use to the Knights, and thus opted to leave it alone, barring the occasional raid on the planet's farms and villages. The Astartes survivors used these raids against the Knights, adopting a guerrilla warfare tactic of ambushing and laying traps for the Chaos forces when it was necessary. Soon enough the survivors of the Thorn Heralds were difficult to track down, and much to Theldrasir's chagrin, the Heralds' distress signal had reached the Imperium and soon enough the system was invaded for the second time by the Fiery Sword of Conquest of the Adeptus Sororitas. They were aided by the weary survivors of the Thorn Heralds, as well as what was left of the initial invasion fleet. Slowly, the Knights were pushed off each world until the campaign reached its climax on Pernicum IV and in the atmosphere, preventing the ground forces exfiltration, whilst Theldrasir battled with César Machado. Composition The Scourge Knights have been known to assimilate any and all those that Sa'vael believes could serve the interests of both himself and that of Chaos, more specifically Tzeentch. Many of those that serve the Knights are the result of corruption. However, being an adherent of Tzeentch, Sa'vael has been known to manipulate his enemies to fight each other for his own gain. Current forces include: -Chaos Marines of various forces, originally consisting of the fallen Nether Host marines. However after the fall, Sa'vael and his servants have since accumulated many other Marines into their ranks as well as gaining the allegiance of other Chaos Marine forces, including the Shadow Chalice Warband. -The Black Engineers. A group lead by a notable Warpsmith named Gathrul the Annealed, infamous for his wicked intellect combined with innovative and creative ideas. He leads the group comprised of fallen Tech Priests, warped Servitors and more recently, the TechUnion Traders of Kambolas - Granting him access to every form of Science and Engineering, combined with the malefic energies of the Warp and Daemonkind to carry out his experiments. -Thousands of The Lost and the Damned, primarily composed of Imperial Guard traitors from Sa'vael's conquests and those that have been by-products of his schemes. Many of these have been instrumental in bringing about the downfall -Multiple Tzaangor tribes. These tribes were united by Sa'vael and placed under the command of a particularly cunning Beastman named T'Challok'a for both that trait and his ability to organise those who lead. Later resulting in the Battle of Uhades. -In his various missions to please his master, Felemoore and his Terminators have been known to scour the prisons of each planet the Scourge Knights have attacked, collecting those willing to turn to Sa'vael's offer of servitude in exchange for freedom and their lives. Among those freed are several mutants, many of which felt little else but hatred and bitterness against the Imperium for shunning them. -Chaos Ogryns, many of which were brought in with the corrupt Guardsman, at least those that were not killed by the Knights. However on the initiative of Felemoore, he sought worlds that were known to have Ogryn populations and took many of the Knights with him to subdue them and twist them to turn to chaos - Dubbing it the "Libertus Crusade" in mock irony of the Imperium's ideals and scope of their many crusades. -Chaos Daemons. It has been noted that the Knights will often rely on Tzeentch and unaligned Daemons of chaos. However, on the edict of Sa'vael, no Lords of Change have ever been summoned by the Knights. It is speculated this is a precaution to prevent any of his followers defecting to follow the Daemon instead of itself. Sa'vael has established a coven of eight sorcerers (To reflect the number of arms on the Star of Chaos and letters in Tzeentch's name) who will often accompany critical missions to conjure spells of great power or tear open a rift in the warp to bring forth these Daemons. Notable Individuals * Sa'vael the Fate-Bound: Formerly Chief Librarian of the Nether Host, fell to chaos as a result of paranoia after the massacre of hundreds of innocent Imperial servants and soldiers. Later became a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch after defeating a Great Unclean One of Nurgle named Bolkos of the Flies. * Vesuvius Felemoore: Formerly the Captain of the 1st Company of the Nether Host and leader of its Terminator Elite. Vesuvius also fell to Chaos having been part of Sa'vael's expedition which lead to the massacre of many innocents and, not being a Psyker, was easy enough for the powers of Chaos to steal his soul. Felemoore was responsible for the slaying of Sorvek the Poisonous and claimed his Daemonblade after defeating him. * Theldrasir: A Chaos Lord / Sorcerer Lord of the Scourge Knights that was tasked with retrieving a gauntlet blessed by Tzeentch during the Pernicum Campaign, he succeeded in his task but lost control of the system to the Imperium after facing a counter-attack of Adeptus Sororitas and the remains of the Thorn Heralds. He maintains a bitter grudge against them to this day. Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:Excommunicate Traitoris Category:Tzeentch